Homophobia in Israel still high but declining slowly, says survey

Jason Koutsoukis Herald Correspondent in Jerusalem

THE Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has visited the Tel Aviv gay and lesbian youth centre that was the scene of Saturday's shooting rampage, which left two people dead and 15 wounded.

The murders, committed by a masked man who opened fire with an Uzi submachine-gun on a gathering at the youth centre, shocked Israel and sparked protests from gays and lesbians around the world.

But as Israeli police mount a massive investigation into the murders, a new poll commissioned by the leading liberal newspaper Haaretz has revealed that almost half of Israelis believe homosexuality to be a perversion.

The poll of 498 people indicated that 46 per cent believe homosexuality to be a perversion, while 42 per cent said it was not.

But the demographic breakdown within the poll provided some encouraging results, according to the Tel Aviv Gay Youth Organisation's director, Yaniv Weizman.

Of those surveyed, 71 per cent of ultra-orthodox Jews said homosexuality was a perversion, as did 67 per cent of Orthodox Jews, 64 per cent of Israeli Arabs and 57 per cent of the million-strong Russian population.

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However, 66 per cent of traditional Jews and 86 per cent of secular Jews said they had no problem with homosexuality.

"It comes as no surprise to me that almost half the public thinks I'm mentally ill and should be imprisoned, treated or killed," Mr Weizman said. "However, I feel we've made some progress. If 26 per cent of the religious and 27 per cent of the Arabs say we're not perverts, you can say we've achieved something."

Mr Weizman, who is a member of the Tel Aviv City Council and also works as an adviser on gay and lesbian issues to Tel Aviv's Labour Party mayor, Ron Huldai, called on Mr Netanyahu to take decisive action. "He must make a very clear statement. He must take the historic step of saying that blood was not spilled in vain."

Professor Camil Fuchs, who conducted the poll on behalf of Haaretz, said that the findings represented a slight decline in homophobia compared to previous surveys.

"It's possible that what we have here is a reaction to trauma and also that hate-filled people think this is not the moment to admit it," he said.

The fact that an overwhelming majority of secular Israelis believed that homosexuality was not a perversion also showed that secular Israelis were more liberal than in other countries.

"In other countries there are also very conservative secular people. In Israel, in contrast, those who define themselves as secular have very liberal positions," Professor Fuchs said.